


All you need is Faith, Trust and a little Pixie Dust

by Maerchenmord



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at Humor, Fairies and stuff, Fantasy, Fluff and Humor, It is short - it is sweet - it's a valentine's day treat, Levi gets played, M/M, Meet Levi the supernatural Matchmaker, No Eren's have been harmed during the creation of this story, ONLY first chapter in first person, Short & Sweet, This is really just a wild mix of Disney tropes and German fairytales, Yes this could have been a one-shot but I'm extra, like really short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-10-28 12:43:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 15,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17787632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maerchenmord/pseuds/Maerchenmord
Summary: A fun little story about the most unsuccessful fairy in existence, trying to take on one Eren Jäger.Levi might hate his job, but there really isn't much he can do, when a few wishing wells and a shooting star are involved. Too bad, that Eren doesn't seem to have much interest in his fated match, but Levi isn't one to give up easily. He's going to get the man laid, or he goes down swinging - after all, a whole arsenal of poisoned apples, magical mirrors and pixie wands must be good for something, right? Right?!





	1. From The Memoirs Of A Fairy

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for giving this a try! This story is really short (like one page per chapter short) and I thought it would be fun and sweet. A bit of a 'no pressure' thing for me, which is why I separated it into so many chapters - I posted a single page every day.   
> There is no grand story arc and deep development - It's just a fun fic with some humor, lots of fairy tale stuff, Disney clichés and a fluffy, budding romance and I hope, it will make you smile a little. And maybe you can even guess all the fairy tale and Disney references I'm going to make - Or if you don't know what I'm talking about, you can find the references in the notes at the end of each chapter, to make some sense of it all. Sending all of you my love and I hope you'll have a great Valentine's Day ♥

 

 

_I know what you think._

_I know how your stupid little heads work and no matter how often all of you try to convince yourselves that you are special little snowflakes - the only exception in a universe full of endlessly repetitive similarities - you are not._

_I fucking know. Been there, done that, seen it all._

_I can almost smell how your sweat glands work overtime when generic-ken-doll-74987 enters your field of vision. I can feel how your chests go tight when your best friend-since-forever-so-sad-we-lost-contact-but-it’s-just-a-little-break sends you their wedding invitation._

_I can tell without looking, how you smile and wipe secret tears during your Disney movie marathons and you find it ‘oh so adoring’ that Belle can see through the outer appearance of the beast and Arielle gets her charming prince against all odds and Mulan wins a fucking war and earns the respect of Mr. Dreamy._

_And I know what you think._

_‘Why can’t it be me?’_

_Tell you why: Because you’re not facing the monster, you’re not sacrificing your voice and you’re not fighting the terrors of the Huns._

_You sit back and wait. You’re the beasts and the oblivious, dumb princes and the prejudiced, idiotic sons of the general, hoping for your happily ever after, brought to you by whoever has currently caught your fancy._

_You’re all hoping for some hero, ready to jump in and whisk you off your feet but that’s not how this shit works._

_It’s effort and sweat and a million unpaid hours – not your own, mind you, because you’re sitting on your asses hoping for a miracle – and for what?_

_For you to get bored after a week or get a sudden fascination for Tinder or that ugly colleague who showers way too little and would have never gotten the time of day from you but suddenly! Oh, suddenly it’s intriguing and more interesting and my hard work ends up in the trash bin. Dumped by your lack of maturity, your idiocy and your endless selfishness._

_I know, I know. Who am I to talk?_

_I’m the guy who’s going to ram his fucking boot up your sorry asses if you even dare to_ think _that question!_

_Lucky for you, that you can’t._

_Of course, you can’t._

_An existence in the misery that you call your love lives might sound bad enough, but it would be a little bland without a specific cherry on top._

_A cherry called rules._

_Rules, that make sure that you never, ever find the smallest clue, hinting at my existence. Rules that cause you to think I’m a ten-inch gnome with wings, who’s doing nothing but sing and shit fairy dust._

_Well news flash, asshole! I don’t!_

_And just for the fucking record: My height is perfectly normal!_

 

 


	2. The Shooting Star Incident

 

 

“But Leviiii!!”

 

“No. Fuck you. No.”

 

“I’m always so happy when you find a way to voice your most inner emotions!”

 

Levi shot Hange a look. _The_ look, to be precise, hoping that it would instantly combust her. Didn’t work though – just his luck.

 

“Why _me_?!”

 

“Ugh, you know how this works!”, she shuffled through a few files on her desk, greedily raking her grimy fingers over every single peace of paper in her way. “It’s not a charity service. It’s work. You have…”, her voice tapered off, before she snatched a single page from the desk and held it up triumphantly. “Fourhundredninetyeightthousand-“, one deep intake of breath followed, “threehundredseventytwo jobs left.”

 

He was almost impressed by her ability to recall the number by heart. Almost.

 

“You don’t like to work. I don’t like to make you. Alas it’s Valentine's Day soon. People are lonely and there are not enough of us to handle it all.”

 

Another piece of paper found its way into Hange’s palm and she seemed to consider her search sufficiently completed, evident by the way she simply pushed the rest of the files off her desk in one smooth swoop over the surface with her right arm.

 

Levi just rubbed his eyes, tired of their never-ending argument about his road to curse-free salvation, and crossed his legs, trying to get comfortable in the wobbly, foldable plastic chair.

 

One might think that being in the business of happy endings would land him in a nice, cream-colored room full of soft cushions and flowers, instead of Hange’s bare office, filled with a gray desk and gray filing cabinets, surrounded by gray walls, sprinkled with – surprise – gray photographs in heavy frames.

 

Well jokes on you, asshole!

 

Levi didn’t wear white and crap cherry blossoms and Hange’s bureau wasn’t a welcoming parlor made in heaven, but a claustrophobic cell in Downtown.

 

“Mike is currently working 412 assignments, Moblit is close to scratching the big four. Think you can handle one measly job, munchkin?”

 

“Who?”

 

Her face lit up like the obnoxiously blinking heart-shaped decorations he had been facing all the way down the corridor. “Eren.”

 

Good. A guy. He got guys – a little at least. Better than some chick that hoped for chocolate and roses and romantic dates and all that other mushy crap he wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.

 

“Knows her since forever, they are like siblings, she loves him dearly, blablabla.”

 

“And the culprit?”

 

“Armin…”, she looked at one of the papers between her fingers, “Arlert. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he is a saint. Friends with both of them – also since forever. Eighteen coins in wishing wells, candle blowing of his last seven birthday cakes, three wishbones and one shooting star.” She slapped the pages down on the table and fixed him with a manic stare. “A shooting star! For his best friend! You know what? I don’t even care how you make it happen. Just do it before the only way to compensate all this goodness is reviving his dead parents!”

 

 


	3. The Clipboard Killer

 

 

Eren screamed.

 

“Huh.”, said Levi.

 

Eren’s voice rose a few pitches.

 

“Interesting.”, murmured Levi.

 

Eren’s squealing came dangerously close to breaking the glass in his windows.

 

“Guess you can see me.”, ventured Levi.

 

Eren’s body jerked towards his bedside table, grabbing a pair of scissors, to wave them threateningly in Levi’s general direction.

 

“That’s complicating matters.”, sighed Levi.

 

Eren stuttered an incomprehensible string of word vomit, containing ‘ _burglar_ ’, ‘ _police_ ’ and a few endearing threats.

 

“You done yet?”, groaned Levi, trying to break the cycle of terrified yelling meets annoyed comments by adding a friendly “We wouldn’t want to wake the neighbors.”

 

Didn’t do much to disperse the terror that shone bright as the sun in the eyes of case 1629, as his ‘victim’ fell silent for a mere second before he took a deep breath – probably to yell at the top of his lungs and do exactly that, wake the neighbors – and Levi had to step in once more.

 

“Don’t even think about it, or I’ll shut you up myself.”

 

The target – Eren – snapped his mouth shut with a loud clacking of his teeth, scissors forgotten and hanging loosely from his limb fingers, before his lips parted once more, slowly this time, telling Levi that he didn’t need to expect another scream.

 

“Are you going to kill me?”, he whispered, brows already drawing together, taking the gloomy presence in, that had invaded his bedroom. “Wait, is that a clipboard?”

 

“You’re quite observant when you’re not screeching like a banshee.”, deadpanned the small man. “Yes, I’m the serial killer who comes to your room and slaps you to death with office supplies.”

 

Eren didn’t get the joke. He rather looked as if he believed every single word.

 

“Forget it. Let’s utilize that paranormal prowess of yours.” He snapped his fingers, with a huff, conjuring a neat, red folder in his free hand, while his costumer gaped at him as if he had grown a second head.

 

“Case file Jäger – Ackerman.”

 

His turn to snap his mouth shut, before he glared at the paperwork mouthing something along the lines of ‘ _Har har, fucking funny four eyes!!_ ’, only to be interrupted by Eren’s alarmed voice.

 

“Mikasa? How do you know my sister?!”

 

 


	4. Fairy Godmother Bureaucracy

 

 

“Levi, what can I do for you today?”

 

Said black-haired man slammed the red file on the desk, but it didn’t manage to paint even the tiniest twitch of a reaction into Erwin’s calm expression.

 

“Let’s forgo the fact that we’re screwing with some universal constant and probably anger a bunch of gods every single second that I have to listen to that four-eyed lunatic!”

 

Ah, there was the twitch.

 

A smile.

 

Fucking asshole.

 

“But siblings? You really expect me to make a match between some brat and his sister?”

 

Erwin reached for the folder and opened it, his gaze flying over the lines for a few seconds, before he closed it again with delicate fingers and gifted Levi with another one of those signature Colgate-smiles.

 

“Clever.”

 

“What?”

 

“Hange. It’s a bold move.”

 

“What the hell are you talking about eyebrows?!”

 

The blonde hulk chuckled, only for it to turn into a real laugh, before he managed to compose himself and wiped a stray tear of joy from his left eye.

 

“Never mind. They aren’t though. Siblings, that is.”

 

“But – “

 

“Not related by blood anyways.”

 

“That makes it better?”

 

“It does. She loves him. The wish for them to find happiness was summoned over and over. Did Hange tell you there was a shooting star involved?”

 

Levi released a long, exasperated groan, eyes rolling so hard that it almost caused a headache, but the trump card had yet to be played.

 

“Can’t. One way or another.”

 

“And why is that?”, inquired Erwin smoothly.

 

“Because he saw me. In his bedroom.”

 

“How inconvenient.”

 

Just why did that asshole chuckle again?

 

“Well, Levi. I suppose that means…”, he gently shoved the file back over the table, placing it in front of the small, fuming form of it’s original owner. “…you better tread carefully from now on.”

 

 


	5. Sisters And Magical Mirrors

 

 

He didn’t.

 

 _Of course_ , he didn’t.

 

No, first act of business was to stumble right back into the bed room, to make sure that those assholes knew that they could shove their stupid assignments where the sun didn’t shine and _obviously_ , the first thing he saw was Eren pressing a tissue to his fingers, because he had managed to cut himself on the scissors he had previously held to threaten the small man.

 

“I could give you my pen next time.”, he suggested. “Equally harmful to me – zero – but less likely to prematurely end your life.”

 

Eren squeaked in a full display of all his manliness. Jumping, voice high, limbs flailing while also trying to cover his chest with the bed sheet like the blushing virgin he probably was.

 

“How are you doing that?!”

 

The fabric bunched between his fingers got a few red stains that made Levi’s nose wrinkle, before the small man’s eyes fell to the forgotten tissue on the ground.

 

At least he wasn’t close to crying anymore, though he clearly seemed upset. The angry, accusatory kind.

 

“Shoes.”

 

“Shoes?”, green eyes darted to said item in question and thick eyebrows furrowed in confusion, as they took Levi’s preferred footwear in – well-worn Chucks in screaming red. “Like the flying boots of Hermes?”

 

“Like the witch of Oz.”

 

“The… what?”

 

He rolled his eyes, clearly feeling the first tendrils of a headache now and ignored the question in favor of opening the red folder in his hands.

 

Scanning the pages, he found the descriptions as useless as usual – Ackerman: Black hair, gray eyes, gloomy demeanor; What the fuck? – but easily spotted the blurry photograph hidden between the pages, sporting Eren and a young woman, next to a blonde, grinning kid. Usually he had portraits of each person in the file, but he’d work with what he got.

 

“That her?”, he asked immediately, holding the picture up for the brunette to see and Eren gaped in return, mouth opening and closing a few times like a goldfish without water.

 

When he finally answered with “Where did you get that?!”, instead of something _useful_ , Levi began to regret that he had cleared up the serial killer misunderstanding. At least Eren would have answered him properly, if he was shitting his pants from the prospect of being murdered.

 

“You know where she is?”

 

“As if I would tell you that, you clipboard freak!”

 

Levi rolled his eyes for the hundreds time and freed his hand of the folder, to rummage through the right pocket of his coat. He procured a tiny compact and opened it, to be greeted by his tired expression in the small mirror it held and murmured “Probably sleeping at this time…” to himself – Confirmation delivered by the alarmed contortion of Eren’s facial features.

 

“I asked nicely. Your fault, if I get a first-row seat to her naked ass now.”

 

“ _What?!_ ”

 

Ignoring the indignant curses spilling from the brat’s mouth, he turned around, effectively shielding the compact from Eren’s wide eyed gaze, and began to whisper. “Mirror, mirror, in my fingers, show me where this idiot’s sister lingers.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * Levi has magical shoes, capable to teleport him, like those that Dorothy takes from the wicked witch of the east in [The Wonderful Wizard of Oz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz)
>   * Levi uses a magic mirror like the queen in [Snow White](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White)
> 



	6. Salagadoola Mechicka Boola

 

 

“You’re sure you’re not just in my head?”

 

“ _Yes_ , you shit stain!”

 

They’ve went over it so many times, that Levi felt a vein twitching in his forehead, whenever the mentally challenged brunette uttered the same question again. Granted, telling the kid that he knew all kinds of things about him hadn’t worked in Levi’s favor, since Eren had simply pointed out that he knew those things about himself as well, so why not grant the same wisdom to his new, imaginary friend?

 

“But Mikasa of all people?! There must be some kind of mistake!”

 

Okay, that had been a big pile of shit, Levi had planted all by himself right under his own feet.

 

Eren didn’t want to be with his sister and the small man couldn’t take the words back. Heck, usually people didn’t know about their intended, nor about their supernatural matchmaker. Things developed seemingly natural and shit, while Levi pulled some strings in the background, but now that the brat knew, he was hellbent on _fighting_ it.

 

“No mistake. Divine destiny. Blablabla.”

 

“As if I’d take your word for it! What are you then? Amor? Cupid?”

 

“Do I look like a half-naked toddler with archery equipment to you?”

 

Eren’s mouth twitched into a smirk but his eyes still stared with annoyed determination.

 

“Guardian angel?”

 

Levi shook his head. As if those celestial assholes would ever lift a single finger for anyone.

 

“God, just give me a tip!”

 

He eyed the young man for a moment, considering his words.

 

Yes, Eren wasn’t even supposed to know that he existed, and Levi didn’t owe him shit – besides his duty to get the brat laid – but considering the circumstances, he was probably better off using any means necessary to get the job done.

 

“I give you a hint, if you do what I say.”

 

“Once.”

 

Levi felt the vein on his forehead throb with renewed vigor and he barely managed to hiss out the answer, that had Eren grinning from one ear to the other. “ _Fine_ …”

 

Lifting the pen, he had graciously offered to the boy earlier, he threw him a pointed look.

 

Two could play that game, asshole, and Levi wasn’t giving up his secrets that easily.

 

“Magic wand.”

 

“The pen??”

 

“Yes, the pen, you dimwit!”

 

“Uh…”, Erens brows furrowed in intrigued confusion, seemingly caught between disbelief and the attempt to use the newly gained information to solve the riddle in front of him. “Wizard?”

 

“No.”

 

“Another tip!”

 

“Same deal.” Levi’s mouth split into a sly grin and the young man groaned and threw his arms in the air, before he nodded his consent with slumped shoulders.

 

As the raven raised the pen further, bright, green eyes widened and followed the gentle sway of Levi’s hand through the air with single minded focus. So mesmerized, that he didn’t miss the moment when the first glittering sparkles of light fell from the end of the ballpoint and floated between them, carried by the soft whisper of a deep, gentle voice. “ _Bibbidi… Bobbidi… Boo._ ”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * [Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo) is the song sung by Cinderellas fairy godmother in the Disney movie 'Cinderella', when she gifts the girl with a dress and transforms a pumpkin into a carriage for her. 'Salagadoola Mechicka Boola' is a lone from the song.
> 



	7. A Study On Kisses

 

 

“I can’t believe you’re my fairy godmother…”

 

Levi shot him a look that said ‘ _what’s that supposed to mean?_ ’ loud and clear, before he glanced downwards and took his own appearance in.

 

Well, maybe the creepy, black trench coat didn’t help. Or his bright red shoes. Or the pink t-shirt, that sported a print of Tinkerbell and the words _I’m so fly, I Neverland_ in bold, glittering letters – courtesy of Hange.

 

She loved shit like that and Levi hated it with passion and he only wore this crappy piece of fabric despite his deep desire to burn it in the open street, because four eyes was the boss and he usually didn’t need to be concerned with being spotted in his so-called ‘ _work attire’_.

 

“I can wear a tutu next time to make it more convincing.”, he murmured under his breath and only realized his own words when Eren’s laugh erupted from the other side of the room.

 

The very room he had been sitting in for three long hours by now – except for the ten-minute break he had taken to get laughed at by Erwin – while Eren had completed his journey through every possible emotion in existence. Fear, disbelief, childlike wonder, anger, amusement – you name it.

 

Ruffling his own hair with an annoyed huff, he waited for the brunette to calm the fuck down and let his gaze stray longingly through the window, watching the first rays of sunshine crawl over the horizon to promise a new day.

 

God, he wanted to get out of here and sleep. Or maybe murder Hange. Or this idiot in front of him. Or maybe all of that. Yeah, that plan was fan-fucking-tastic. Whatever he said earlier, he took it back. He would use his clipboard to smash their heads in and giggle to himself for all eternity, while the local authorities tried to find a criminal without fingerprints who was invisible to the human eye.

 

No more shitty jobs, no more humiliating t-shirts and no weird humans that _weren’t fucking supposed to see him_. A good idea. Great even. _Glorious_!

 

“You can wear a pterodactyl costume for all I care.”, Eren finally managed to wheeze out, still catching his breath. “But it’s not going to change anything. I’m not into my sister.”

 

“We’ll see about that.”, retorted Levi a little petulant, which only served to draw another chuckle from the brunette.

 

“Yeah, I bet you have all sorts of tricks up your sleeve. What’s it gonna be? Drugging me with fairy dust?”

 

God, the brat couldn’t really believe that Levi was _that_ stupid, could he? “As if I’m going to tell you anything else.”

 

“Let me guess.”, Eren continued jokingly with an amused grin. “True love’s kiss?”

 

 _Fuck_.

 

Levi’s lips pressed into a thin line and Eren’s eyes widened comically, before a new burst of laughter shook his whole frame. “Seriously? _Seriously??_ Oh my fucking god, you can’t be – I can’t believe this shit! You’re messing with me!”

 

The brat was clutching his sides now, gleeful tears spilling over his reddened cheeks as he continued in between new bouts of giggles. “N-No, seriously! Not gonna happen! I’d have to be, don’t know, be struck by amnesia or something to believe this– “ Interesting suggestion, Levi mentally filed that away for later consideration. “– and even then, I’d probably just consider it some lapse of judgement later on!”

 

As if Levi cared. Eren just needed to believe it in that moment and the broody fairy could rid himself of this horrendous assignment. That nonsense was called ‘ _true love’s kiss_ ’, not ‘ _eternal love’s kiss_ ’ or ‘ _I’m hereby signing my prenup kiss_ ’.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * [Tinker Bell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_Bell) is a fairy in the story of Peter Pan. Neverland is where they live.
>   * True love's kiss is used in many fairy tales and Disney movies to break spells or curses and 'wrap up' the story, e.g. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and The Beauty and the Beast
> 



	8. Don't Mess With The Hidden Folk

 

 

“Are you alright, Eren? You keep staring at the wall.”

 

Green eyes snapped back to the two other occupants of the table and Levi released a low chuckle, as Eren’s ears turned red.

 

He wasn’t looking at the wall, not exactly. He was looking at the grouchy little man in his pink t-shirt and his black trench coat and Levi could practically see the thoughts forming in Eren’s mice-sized brain.

 

Yeah, Levi could fuck with him. Nobody saw him except the stupid brat and he could have a field day making idiotic faces and spewing bullshit, only to humiliate Eren with eventually pissing himself from laughing about things that the rest of the world couldn’t sense.

 

But Levi wasn’t like the twenty-year-old moron who refused to cooperate, and he had bigger problems to solve than entertaining Eren’s childish fantasies, namely finding a way for said idiot to trade spit with his sister.

 

 _Ugh_. When had they strayed so far from god?

 

Scratch that. He knew the answer.

 

 _Hange_.

 

“Do you believe in fairies?”, interrupted Eren Levi’s thoughts about humanities descent into the pits of immorality and the small man groaned while the root of all his problems – Armin _goddamn_ Arlert – raised a thick eyebrow in confusion.

 

Not that he got a word in edgewise. Levi had quickly come to understand the dynamic of the trio in front of him, namely that Armin would ponder over something when addressed, while his equine companion opened his mouth to do the talking, without giving it a single thought.

 

“The fuck dude? Had some acid with your cereals this morning?”

 

Eren found a few colorful curse words to comment on Jean’s brain capacity, while Armin rolled his eyes.

 

“I don’t know Eren…”, muttered the blonde bowl-head then. “… it seems a bit farfetched, but it’s nice to believe in something.” And then, because Armin always seemed to try to get some sort of knowledge into his mentally challenged friends, he added with a timid smile “I’ve read that they move construction grounds in Iceland when they overlap with spots that are known to belong to the ‘hidden folk’. They even had a fairy commissary in the Ministry of Transport at some point.”

 

“You’re kidding me.” Eren was gaping now and Armin answered with a shy giggle, that summoned the urge in Levi's chest, to wrap the kid into a fluffy blanket and make him hot chocolate. God bless his beautiful puppy soul. If the fairy wasn’t be so pissed about dealing with the brunet thanks to said human incarnation of a newborn Golden Retriever, he might have made some extra time to look into Armin’s love life.

 

“No, I mean it. They take their folklore very serious and to be honest– “, Armin shrugged here, “ –I don’t see how it’s so different from us. Many people here go to church and believe in god. In Iceland, they believe in elves and gnomes and make sure not to damage their grounds.”

 

Eren nodded slowly, as he listened intently, while Jean interrupted with a snort every now and then, that didn’t get him any attention. Eventually, the brunette leaned back in his chair, and his eyes found Levi once more, roaming quickly over his small figure.

 

“Fairies, huh?”

 

 


	9. Djinn with Style

 

 

Levi rubbed his chin in deep contemplation, while he followed Eren through the streets. God, he could already feel a stubble there. He _hated_ stubble.

 

His charge seemed to ignore him for now, as he was engrossed with his shopping spree and Levi tried desperately to come up with a solution in the meantime.

 

Maybe a tragic accident. He could drop a poisoned apple into Mikasa’s morning smoothie – or whatever the fuck it was, that kids ate these days – and as soon as it went downhill, Eren would come to terms with his own feelings and slobber all over her halfdead lips.

 

Could go south, though. Levi had firsthand experience with that and Hange didn’t like this method, probably because the short man had used it one too many times. And who could blame him? He didn’t have the fucking patience to groom pairs into devoted couples over the span of years.

 

Love potions didn’t work. Defied the whole idea of true love as far as he understood, even though he had mostly zoned out during the two-day introduction about the Dos and Don’ts of the job.

 

A curse? That shit took some time but if he turned the girl into a speaking toad and Eren was forced to support her through the days, they might grow even closer. Kiss the frog, yada yada, all’s well that ends well.

 

Then again, Eren would know immediately, that it was him who had hexed her. Levi might get away with food poisoning but speaking toads? Instead of being with his froggy sister, he would probably try to start a fist fight with his fairy godmother and annoy him until he relented. Eren would be even more cautious as a result and Levi would have wasted hell of a lot of time and resources.

 

Shitty idea.

 

“You eat?”, came from right next to him and startled him out of his brainstorming session with himself.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Food. You eat, old man?”

 

“You damn brat, you– “, Levi had stopped walking and Eren raised his hands immediately to pacify him but didn’t manage to keep a stupid grin off his face.

 

God, he wanted to kick him right in the nuts. Wasn’t allowed either though – just another thing Levi had experienced firsthand in the past.

 

“Chinese?”, offered the brunette and Levi huffed, still pissed but marginally soothed by the thought of food. He nodded once and Eren began walking again, leaving the fairy to catch up.

 

“I’ve been thinking.”, he murmured, as to not appear like a lunatic loudly talking to himself in the open street. Levi heard him just fine. “How about we make a deal? I do what you say and in return, you do what I say. Trading favors, basically.”

 

Levi eyed him from the side. The kid was so fucking transparent. He obviously was convinced that he wasn’t in any danger of falling in love with his sister and hoped to milk the fairy godmother cow in the meantime.

 

“Fine.”, he said with a grin that showed too many teeth and earned him a surprised look. “You follow my orders and I’ll grant you wishes in return.”

 

“Like a personal Djinn!”, snickered the brunette and Levi grumbled, annoyed all over again. Eren could laugh all he wanted, he was only playing into the fairy’s hands by offering to be willingly pushed into the right direction without complaints. Levi would have the fucking last laugh.

 

“You better don’t try to trap me in some ugly lava lamp.” The boy’s eyes widened ever so slightly, before the small man continued. “I’ve got _style_.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * Levi contemplates several methods to use on Eren, such as the poisoned apple from [Snow White](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White) or turning Mikasa into a frog like in [The Frog Prince](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frog_Prince)
>   * Djinns are mythological creatures that have also been used in fairy tails and Disney movies, such as [Aladdin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_\(1992_Disney_film\))
> 



	10. Fairy Housemaid

 

 

“No mischief, no significant personal gain.”

 

“Like?”

 

“Winning the lottery, killing your nemesis, my firstborn, …”

 

“That’s a thing?!”

 

Levi shot him a look that said it all and Eren shook his head, before he stuffed another piece of chicken from his Chinese takeout box into his mouth.

 

“But I can ask you to… dunno, teleport me around with your fancy shoes?”

 

“Doesn’t work like that.”

 

The boy groaned and Levi grinned, unable to mask his glee. “Guess you should read the fine print, before you strike a deal, kiddo.”

 

“Well what _can_ you do then?”, shot Eren back in exasperation and Levi rubbed his chin again, mulling it over for a moment. Fucking stubble.

 

“I could make food.” Would be a pain to carry a wishing-table around, but not impossible. “Or clean.” He had to check, if the mice and doves were available at the moment. “Stuff like that.”

 

“Sounds more like a fairy housemaid.”, complained the brat and Levi decided not to dignify that with an answer.

 

Eren dropped his empty box into the bin and sighed, while Levi kept munching away on his General Tao. “So, what’s the first order of business then, Mr. fairy?”

 

Wasn’t that the one-million-dollar question? Levi had spent the whole day wondering how to approach this very special case, while he had followed the brat through the city and involuntarily witnessed his shopping addiction and the lunch meeting with bowlhead and horseface. Now he was none the wiser.

 

Classic approach then, until he got any better ideas. “Send her flowers with a nice message.”

 

Eren’s mouth opened for a second, before it snapped shut again. There was an unsettling glint in his eyes, but Levi couldn’t quite figure if it was indignation or amusement. When the brat frowned eventually, he grinned. If Eren didn’t want to offer random gifts to his sister, it probably meant, that Levi was on to something.

 

“Flowers then…”, sighed the boy and Levi nodded for good measure, while Eren already pulled his laptop close and opened the website of some flower delivery shop. Two minutes of clicking and typing and he showed the screen to the small man, asking him if his choice was alright.

 

The bouquet was a wild mix of blossoms ranging from rosy to dark red and the message read ‘ _Thought about our awesome trip to NY two weeks ago and wanted to thank you ;) Hope this finds you well! XOXO Eren._ ’

 

Seemed well enough, all things considered, and Levi voiced his approval with an affirmative grunt, before Eren hit the button to order the flowers and shoved the laptop away.

 

“My turn!”, he grinned, and the fairy tensed with apprehension, only to scowl upon hearing the brat’s next words.

 

“You’ll honestly answer me ten questions about yourself.” The moron wiggled his brows and interrupted him as soon as Levi opened his mouth to protest. “No takesies backsies!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * Handing over your first born to gain something is a topic in quite a few German fairy tales, such as [Rapunzel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapunzel) or [Rumpelstilzchen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpelstiltskin)
>   * The wishing-table Levi is referring to, is an item from the fairy tale [The Wishing-Table, the Gold-Ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wishing-Table,_the_Gold-Ass,_and_the_Cudgel_in_the_Sack)
>   * Animals cleaning the house or doing chores is a common theme in many Disney movies like Snow White or Cinderella
> 



	11. Fairy Performance Review

 

 

“Levi! My favorite little pixie!”

 

Said _pixie_ glowered at Hange with all the strength he could muster, which was, admittedly, not a lot.

 

The flowers had been a bad idea. Apparently, Mikasa was allergic to almost everything nature had to offer and the ‘awesome trip to New York’ had been meant to be a long weekend for the boys to hang out and go clubbing. That is, until Mikasa had forcefully invited herself, patronized Eren like a mother hen and destroyed all hopes to visit certain food joints they had desperately wanted to eat at, because of her shitty ketogenic diet.

 

The look on Eren’s face when the fairy had found out, that he had basically made the boy flip his sister off in form of a bouquet, had probably popped a few vessels in Levi’s brain. Too bad, that even a rotting body wouldn’t hasten his long-desired demise.

 

“So how is it going with Mr. Shooting star?”

 

“Great.”, he snapped immediately and Hange grinned obnoxiously, but he ignored her imploring stare.

 

It was going great! If great equaled total failure, at least.

 

Aside from the flowers, he had made the brat invite her to dinner and cook for her – before gaining knowledge about her stupid eating habits – as well as drag her to the movies, only for Eren to choose some sappy romance that Mikasa hated with impressing vigor. Action movies were her thing, it seemed.

 

Eren had tricked him into one stupid mishap after the other and Levi really didn’t know at this point, if he should be angry or applaud the kid. It was his own damn fault too, for not doing better research on the girl and then there were the dumb wishes, the brunette kept coming up with.

 

Not only had he coaxed Levi into telling him his life story with his ten questions, but also forced him to teach Eren skating in the local rink – okay, maybe that hadn’t been the worst day of his life – and to cook together with magical ingredients – yeah, alright, that had been kinda funny – that Levi had obtained by spending hours with filling ridiculous paperwork.

 

“Good to hear it.”, chirped Hange, effectively interrupting his brooding. She lifted a sheet of paper and squinted at it for a moment, before a grin spread on her face that would have freaked him out, if he hadn’t known her for so long. “Numbers show, that the affection between Jäger and Ackermann is growing. Good job.”

 

“What?!” Levi stared at her in disbelief for a moment, then he jumped forward to snatch the sheet from her hands without success. God, this bitch could be fast if she wanted.

 

“Ah, ah, ah, Levi. I do the numbers and evaluate your job. You do the ground work.”

 

Clenching his jaw, his eyes darted around on her desk for a moment, as he tried to make heads or tails of her statement. If anything, he was sure that Mikasa started to hate her brother for his inconsiderate antics. How in the world had he managed to get them closer when all he caused was trouble between the two?

 

“Whatever you’re doing, it’s working.” The report vanished in a drawer and Levi shook his head, frowning at his own shoes.

 

“Are you sure? I don’t –”

 

“Absolutely. Just keep doing _exactly_ what you’ve been doing so far.”

 

 


	12. Dinner For Two

 

 

“So in theory…”, Eren kicked his shoes off and hung his coat next to the entrance. “If, let’s say, we were friends,”, Levi shot him a look, that the boy pointedly ignored, “and you have to do 500000 jobs, before you get freed from your duty, would that mean I would keep aging and die while you just keep living until you’re done?”

 

“Kind of.”

 

Levi didn’t even know, why he kept answering the brat at this point. He should have protected his secrets and offer them in trade for more instructions in regards of Mikasa, but Eren was always babbling, always curious and interested and in all honesty, he couldn’t remember the last time anyone had shown willingness to get to know him, aside from his insufferable colleagues. Kinda hard anyways, when nobody was able to see you.

 

“My turn, right?” Eren grinned and Levi sighed in defeat. Yesterday’s plan to visit an amusement park had backfired, when the fairy had gotten aware of the fact, that Mikasa harbored a deep fear for clowns. But Hange had told him to keep going and that things were working out, so Levi did, since there was a severe lack of better ideas.

 

“I thought you could make dinner. You said that was okay, right?”

 

The fairy nodded and straightened his shirt – bright yellow today, with the slogan ‘ _powered by pixie dust_ ’ – and murmured, that he would be right back, before he knocked his heels together and disappeared.

 

Seconds later, he was back with a small table in his hands, that he sat down gingerly in front of Eren, snapping at him not to touch it and talking about its invaluable antique properties.

 

“Table, deck yourself!”

 

The brat grinned and his eyes widened with childlike glee, while he watched food magically appear on the wooden surface. There was bread with a thick crust and cheese, roasted meat, fresh fruits, vegetables and wine – fantasy furniture didn’t tend to come with Ginger Ale or Gatorade – and Eren clapped excitedly, when the show was over, as soon as little bowls with creamy custard for dessert had popped up on the table.

 

“Wow, I’m so jealous! You get to eat like that all the time!”

 

The fairy didn’t answer, not feeling like bursting Eren’s bubble. His accessories where meant for the job and the sad truth was, that Levi barely ate, barely slept and generally barely took care of himself. His continuously growing stubble being only one of many pieces of evidence.

 

“I wondered…”, Eren filled a plate with a generous amount of food, while Levi snuck bits and pieces from the table as if it was some sort of tapas buffet. “… you really seem to hate your job. Why is that?”

 

“Because humans are stupid, selfish assholes.” The fairy popped a cherry tomato in his mouth and chewed carefully, before he continued. “They’re too dumb to appreciate what’s important. Love, devotion, loyalty. They are greedy, and they always want more. The grass is always greener on the other side."

 

The brunet had stopped eating and nodded slowly, while a crease formed on his forehead. “I think I know what you mean…” His head snapped up and he tried a wobbly grin, that Levi easily identified as a way to mask some form of hidden anxiety. “You think I’m a stupid, selfish asshole?”

 

And Levi was about to retort with some crude comment, before he stopped himself and looked at the young man with his fluffy bedhead and his stupidly green eyes and his perfect face that showed the weirdest – nervous? – expression.

 

“I wonder…”, he answered, voice lower than intended and Eren smiled somewhat coyly and Levi thought… ‘ _Oh._ ’

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * The wishing-table from[The Wishing-Table, the Gold-Ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wishing-Table,_the_Gold-Ass,_and_the_Cudgel_in_the_Sack) makes another entrance :) 
> 



	13. Showered In Stars

 

 

“Why?!”

 

A pout formed on Eren’s full lips and Levi groaned, while he steeled himself internally for the puppy-eyed look that was sure to follow.

 

“Because contrary to Mikasa, I actually like amusement parks and I couldn’t enjoy myself when I dragged her to our date. I was reminded of all its joys, only to have them ripped from my grasp! It was like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey to make it pull the cart out of the mud!” Eren did his best to emphasize his theatric speech with the added drama of wildly flailing gestures.

 

And, okay, Levi could somewhat understand, that this ‘date’ had sucked, and the kid wanted to have some fun but…

 

But this wasn’t an amusement park. It was a fair. Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, too many food stalls to count and all.

 

Also, it was closed. Dark like the sky above, not a single light in sight, nor the sound of food sizzling in one of the gazillion fryers to be heard.

 

And what was he even doing here? Eren asking him to perform tricks for him was a concept he understood, but just having someone follow you around like a loyal mutt didn’t exactly require a fairy.

 

He turned around to tell the brat that he wasn’t assigned to him to play house, when the bright hopeful glimmer in Eren’s eyes stopped him.

 

 _Shit_.

 

Levi decided right then and there not – nor ever – to entertain the thought any further, that this might indeed be the kid’s idea of some weird, supernatural date night. That was a bottomless pit of _Nope’s_ he never, ever wanted to set foot in.

 

It wasn’t exactly easy though, when he watched the smile on Eren’s lips falter more and more, the longer Levi just glared at him incredulously.

 

_Shit, shit, shit!_

 

“You can’t be serious.”

 

Eren’s expression turned into something almost crestfallen in an instant and he didn’t bite his bottom lip fast enough for Levi not to notice, that it was trembling. _God, why?_ “Ahaha… Yeah that… was kind of stupid… Forget it.”

 

And just like that, the brat turned away to leave and Levi spat a rushed “ _Fine!_ ” into the void left behind – wherever the fuck that had come from.

 

Eren spun around, all giddy and bright grin again, as if he was a walking Christmas tree and someone had suddenly plugged the lights in. “You mean it?!”

 

“Ugh…” He plucked the ball pen from his pocket and clicked it a few times – Not that it made a difference but Eren’s theatrics seemed to brush off on him. “I’m already regretting this…”

 

As always, the kid watched open mouthed, while Levi wove the pen through the air with a flourish until soft sparks glittered around them and rose up into the night. “What’s happening?”

 

“Patience…”, he pocketed the utensil and looked up, before he pointed into the darkness, where the first glimmers of stars showed through the clouds, shining brighter and brighter until they began to plummet from the sky like golden raindrops.

 

“Levi…” Eren gasped, eyes wide and just as brilliant as the twinkling lights falling down around them.

 

Colors burst with every shimmery touch that hit the ground, lightbulbs blinked to life and music began to play from the speakers, but the young man couldn’t tear his gaze from the sky while the stars rained down on them.

 

And Levi…

 

Levi couldn’t look away from the warm hand, that had suddenly clutched his own, soft long fingers curling around his pale digits.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * In the fairy tale [The Star Money](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Money), an orphaned girl is standing in a shower of falling stars and collects them in her skirt. They turn out to be golden coins, a reward for her selfless kindness.
> 



	14. Bread Crumbs And Roses

 

 

“So, fairies have apartments too, huh?”

 

Levi blinked at the brunette in disbelief, shaving cream still covering half of his face – fucking stubble – while the brat grinned widely in front of his half-opened door.

 

“What– Where– How?!?”

 

“Yeah, that was actually really weird…” Eren rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, while the small man tried to wrap his head around the fact that the kid had found his way here. This place didn’t even really exist, not for mortals anyways. In the real world, his apartment was probably occupied by a bunch of wild college students or an Italian family with too many people for too few rooms. Only fairies like himself could walk through the door Narnia-style to find Levi’s home.

 

“Weird?”, he realized that he kept gawking like an idiot and forced himself to scowl instead – finding familiar territory, so to say.

 

“Yeah you know… there were like… bread crumbs? Like, I mean _everywhere_. And then they formed kind of a trail?”

 

Levi’s left eye twitched for a second, before he let go of the door and turned around to walk back into his apartment, muttering low curses as he retreated into the bathroom. “Whatever. What do I even know? Hange probably pissed off some Greek goddess and unhinged the universe. I’m so over this. Count me the fuck out. Fuck this shit…”, his voice tapered off slowly, the longer he rambled.

 

The brat, it seemed, had decided to follow him inside in the meantime and Levi heard the door click shut, before soft footsteps echoed through the corridor, followed by an audible gasp.

 

“What now?!”, he craned his neck out of the bathroom, towel in hand to wipe white foam away and found Eren standing at the other side of the room, eyes glued to a delicate glass case on top of a sideboard, holding a shimmering flower.

 

“What is that?”

 

“A cursed rose.”, he abandoned the cloth and stepped into the room, making his way towards the kid.

 

“Cursed?” Eren frowned. “But it’s so… beautiful.”

 

“Well, let it be a life lesson. Sometimes the most captivating things…”, he reached out until his hand hovered on top of the glass and they watched the flower darkening and wilting, lush petals turning into black, crumbling leaves. “… are the most rotten on the inside.”

 

Levi removed his hand and the rose regained its colors, before he turned to Eren.

 

“So… you’re cursed?”

 

“I’m certainly not doing this horrid job out of the goodness of my heart, brat.” He looked back at the flower and shrugged. “At least I’m not turning into a monster or shit like that. Just gotta work it off.”

 

Eren eyed him carefully and Levi shrugged again, a little lost with the conversation. “But it’s a long, lonely life. I guess that’s the real punishment in all of this.”

 

“Can’t pull the true-loves-kiss card with that one?”, Eren joked weakly and the fairy huffed.

 

“I could.”, he crossed his arms in front of him defensively. “But that can turn out to be a little difficult when nobody can see you and you’re… well… me.”

 

His gaze found Eren once more and one of his brows rose, when he caught the brat glancing at his lips for a brief moment. The kid’s eyes snapped away immediately and he cleared his throat. “Yeah, heh…” Levi observed curiously how Eren’s ears turned pink, while the brunet raised a hand to the nape of his neck, to rub it. “Guess you’re right, Levi.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * [Hansel and Gretel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansel_and_Gretel) try to leave a trail of bread crumbs in the forest, to find their way back home.
>   * An enchanted rose under a bell jar is connected to the beast's curse in the Disney movie [Beauty and the Beast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_\(1991_film\))
> 



	15. An Act Of Altruism

 

 

“I’m not sure I understand.”

 

“What’s so hard to understand about this, brows for brains?! I can’t make a match between Eren and his sister!”

 

Erwin’s unsettling smile didn’t waver in the slightest. “So, you want me to remove Eren from your care?”

 

“No!”, Levi cringed immediately and launched into the next best explanation he could come up with to salvage the situation. “I mean, yes. No! I mean, I can handle it. But maybe– maybe someone else. Yes.”

 

“Someone else.”, parroted the blonde, cocking his head a smidgen.

 

“Yeah. I mean– Not a fairy. The match. Someone else for Eren.” _Someone like…_

 

Ugh! Shit, shit, _shit_!!

 

Levi stared tensely at his red shoes. The whole talking thing had worked out better in his head, but it wasn’t like he could outright say, that he couldn’t match Eren with Mikasa, because he simply didn’t _want_ to.

 

If they got together, his job would be done. He’d leave them and the brat wouldn’t be able to see him anymore and Levi would be back to his pathetic, lonely life without so much as a sliver of companionship.

 

Probably selfish. Very selfish. The kind of ‘ _this is the shit that got you cursed in the first place_ ’ selfish, but he just _couldn’t_.

 

His teeth sunk into his bottom lip while his gaze grew angrier by the second.

 

What the fuck was he _doing_ here?

 

Was he really such a miserable person, that he would put his own happiness above Eren’s? That he would cut off the fated strings between two people, just to get a little bit of attention?

 

Erwin’s voice weaseled its way through the stupor of his thoughts and Levi blinked in confusion for a moment, before the words registered. “… really what you think, I will trust your judgement. Let me get in touch with Hange and we’ll see who would be better suited to– “

 

“No.”

 

“No?”

 

He shook his head, eyes cast downwards still, too ashamed to look up. “I… I will handle it. I might be wrong and– and they’re probably perfect for each other. Shooting stars and all. I can handle it.”

 

A few beats of silence followed, and the fairy dared to look up.

 

Erwin watched him intently and when Levi almost began to fidget on the spot, he smiled.

 

Not his creepy Colgate-smile, that drove the small man up the wall whenever he saw it, but a true, gentle expression, that curled his lips, reached his eyes and crinkled the smooth skin around them.

 

“I’m glad to hear that.”, and Levi nodded stupefied, only for Erwin to grin even wider. “I really am.”

 

 


	16. Hulda Is Making Her Bed

 

 

“This again?”

 

Eren groaned and slumped back into the couch, while Levi stared him down with an unyielding glare.

 

There hadn’t been any change in the brat’s conviction, that his sister was the worst possible choice for a romantic relationship, but the fairy didn’t care.

 

He knew better and while the odds seemed to be against him, he was certain that Mikasa had come up as Eren’s fated partner for a good reason.

 

Hell, even the kid’s best friend seemed to believe so, judging by all the wishes Armin had thrown away for the two of them.

 

Levi had spent a long, lonely night wallowing in self-pity. He had been drinking his sorrows away and mourned the upcoming loss of the only normal person in the world who could not only see him, but genuinely enjoyed his company.

 

He had needed it. Had needed to get it out of his system, but now that he had addressed his emotions, he had to focus on the task at hand.

 

Eren _deserved_ to find happiness and while Levi would miss him dearly when the time came for them to part, he was determined to do everything in his power to help Eren along the way of finding true love.

 

He liked Eren.

 

He really did.

 

He liked that the kid glowed with excitement, whenever he pulled another trick out of the hat. He liked that Eren wasn’t deterred by Levi’s gruff demeanor, that he was always smiling, that he was generous and kind and warm. He liked that the brat gave him the time of day and showed him, that he truly cared about Levi.

 

And that was exactly why he wouldn’t fail him, even if Eren himself couldn’t quite picture it yet.

 

“I’ve found out that Mikasa likes winter, so you’ll go and take her for a nice walk through the snow.”

 

“Levi, there is no snow outside!”, the brunet rolled his eyes and gestured wildly out of the window. “It’s almost march!”

 

“Not a problem.” The fairy snapped his fingers and a giant pillow appeared in his arms. He shook it experimentally to make sure it was working and Eren’s eyes grew wide again, as they always did, when a few, lonely snowflakes sunk down to the floor of the living room, before they melted into little droplets.

 

“You get your sister.”, he commanded and stuffed the fluffed-up pillow under his right arm. “I will handle the snow.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * [Frau Holle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frau_Holle) is a German fairytale that describes "Hulda" (Mrs. Holle) making her bed in heaven. When she shakes out her pillows and blankets, the down feathers falling out of it sink down to earth as snow. Even today, in some parts of Germany we still say "Hulda is making her bed" when it snows.
> 



	17. Forget Me Not

“Can’t say I didn’t try.”

 

“It’s fine, these things need time.”

 

Eren shot him a surprised look, one eyebrow arching high into his forehead. “You said you hated wasting time on this stuff. The faster, the better and all that.”

 

The fairy shrugged, before he followed the brunet through the open door and brushed a few, stray snowflakes off his coat. “It’s fine.”, he repeated.

 

Mikasa had liked the walk with her brother, just as Levi had expected. After all, he had done his damn homework for once. Also to be expected had been, that spending a little time with his sister wouldn’t make Eren suddenly fall in love with her.

 

That was okay though. Levi would tackle this job step by step until the sheer mass of magical moments between the siblings would transform into something sweeter.

 

He could do this.

 

“What changed your mind?”

 

The fairy sat down next to the brunet, still consumed by his own thoughts and commented absentmindedly “It’s not so bad to be here a little longer.”

 

“What?”

 

Levi’s attention snapped back to the present and he tried to make sense of the sudden change in Eren’s expression, before his muddled brain recalled the unbidden words he had mumbled while he had been lost in his thoughts. “Uh…”

 

“You’re going to leave?”

 

“Well… yes? I will finish my job, or it will be declared a failure at some point and then...” The fairy frowned, watching Eren’s face drain of color and the kid shook his head defiantly.

 

“But we can still talk, no? You don’t have to, like, go away, right? Match people in Kenia or something?”

 

A low chuckle rumbled through Levi’s chest and he shook his head. “No.” And Eren’s smile was so blinding, that the fairy died a little on the inside, when he had to crush that hopeful look again. “But… You won’t see me anymore. You won’t even remember me.”

 

“I…” A beat of silence passed, a shell-shocked expression on Eren’s face, before his brows drew together and his lips pressed into an angry line. “No. That’s not right. You can’t do this. I don’t want this!”

 

Levi barely realized, that Eren’s upset bravado hid watery eyes, before he found himself wrapped up in strong arms, held in a crushing hug as if the small man had just declared his immediate departure.

 

“Eren…”, he patted the brunet’s shoulder tentatively, but the young man shook his stubborn head.

 

“No!”

 

“Eren, I– “

 

“No, Levi!”, large hands held his shoulders close, giving the fairy no chance to see the fiery determination burning in Eren’s green orbs. “I don’t want to forget you!”

 

 


	18. The Moral Of The Story

 

 

“So, I gather… a lot of fairy tales seem to have some truth to them.”

 

Levi shrugged, before he took another sip of his beer. Lately, whenever he had even _thought_ about knocking his heels together and see the brat, Eren had mysteriously stood in front of his door – which for some reason, he still managed to find – only seconds later.

 

Which also meant that Levi had felt the need to stock his fridge a little better, to be a less pathetic host.

 

“We pulled some weird shit over the last centuries.”

 

“It’s not weird!”, Eren sat up, beer swishing precariously in its bottle and the raven wondered if the kiddo had had one too many already. “It’s super cool! A-And you have all this…”, he gestured in excitement, “…this cool stuff!”

 

“Cool stuff?” Levi chanced a glance around the room. Old worn couch, two crooked bookshelves with more dents in them than acceptable and walls with chipping paint.

 

“Yeah, like, magic wands and mirrors and tables and cursed roses!”

 

_Ah._

 

He managed a noncommittal shrug, but Eren already kept going. “What’s your favorite?”

 

“Uh…” A frown edged into Levi’s expression, but the brunette’s tremendous excitement made him consider the question for a moment instead of dismissing it.

 

Curses probably. They either worked out or got rid of the problem – aka the client – in the process. Not too great for the success-failure-ratio though.

 

“Grandfather clocks.”, he said instead, and the kid gawked with a mask of complete and utter incomprehension.

 

Hence, he elaborated “Their sound is soothing.”, adding “And they are safe.”, and when Eren still stared at him, as if he was a complete idiot, he just rambled on with “You can fit a whole lamb into the bigger ones.”

 

“A lamb.”

 

“Yes, a lamb. Tiny sheep. Fluffy wool, thin legs, big eyes?”

 

“I…”, Eren’s mouth snapped shut and he shook his head. “You know what? I don’t even want to know.”

 

Taking another sip from his beer, the brunette leaned back into the couch and stared at the opposite wall for a moment, eyes raking over the glowing flower in its glass case. “Levi…?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Why were you cursed?”

 

The fairy shot him a quick glance and cleared his throat. “It, uh… It was a crazy time. Good people burned on the stake, criminals wandering the streets free of charge...”

 

He made a dismissive gesture, already knowing that it probably wouldn’t stop the brat from prodding further and Eren only raised an eyebrow, seeing his deflection exactly for what it was. “So, your curse wasn’t justified?”

 

“Well…”, the smaller man sighed and ran a hand through his hair, before he deflated. “No, it was. I was a selfish person, I didn’t care about anyone or anything.”

 

“But!”, the young man sat up and turned towards him. “You said you hate selfish people!”

 

“Takes one to know one, brat.”

 

He nodded slowly, sinking back into the cushion, while a crease formed between his brows. Eventually, he looked back at the flower, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. “And now? Did it help?”

 

“Help?”

 

“Well in Movies and stories and such – “, Levi rolled his eyes, but Eren bravely pushed onwards, “ – most curses are like a lesson, right? A burden, not only to punish you, but to understand your mistakes and better yourself. So, I wondered…”, his eyes darted back to Levi, but only for a second, before he stared at the other side of the room again, licking his lips almost anxiously. “… if you learned to care?”

 

Staring at the kid on his couch, Levi had a hard time not to sigh wistfully.

 

 _You have no idea_ , he thought, before he answered with a much less revealing “Yes.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * In the fairytale [The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolf_and_the_Seven_Young_Goats), a wolf tricks a goat's children into opening the door for him, while she is out of the house. He gobbles six of them up, but the seventh can hide in the grandfather clock and lead his mother to the wolf later on, to rescue his siblings.
> 



	19. Between Permits and Tooth Fairy Business

 

 

“A special permit?” Erwin’s eyes had zeroed in on the sheet of paper in Hange’s hand, as soon as she had entered his office and the tall man had identified the telltale color of the form just as quickly.

 

“Indeed, my friend!”, she slapped the blue page down onto his desk and plopped into the armchair in front of him – because Erwin actually had adequate seating options in this room, in contrary to her. It was a gross injustice, really, but Hange wasn’t one to dwell on these things. Especially not when she wanted to get something from said man.

 

Adjusting her glasses, she peered around the room, giving him enough time to pick up the permit request and scan it quickly, before her gaze settled on a giant pile of paper to his left. “Still having issues with the tooth fairy department?”

 

“You know how it is…”, he mumbled, eyes still flying over Hange’s chicken scratch. “Was bad enough when we had to switch from a few bronze and copper coins to 160 different currencies. Now kids want Iphones. For a tooth.”

 

He dropped the page and brought both hands to his forehead, massaging his temples. It earned him a sympathetic glance from Hange but he already knew, that she wasn’t in the right mind to console him.

 

As rare as it was, sometimes she actually managed to focus on something, even though her usual attention span was shorter than a toddler’s and right now, Hange meant business. Man-on-a-mission-face and all.

 

“Let’s make this short.” He raised the sheet of paper once more and gave it a listless wave through the air. “I can’t read this. What do you want?”

 

“I’m working on something.”, was all she said in return and quite quickly too. Erwin almost got the feeling, that her horrendous way of filling the paperwork hadn’t happened by chance.

 

Lie by omission maybe. What he doesn’t know, can’t hurt him and all that.

 

“I would hope so. You’re leading a whole department as far as I remember.”

 

Hange grinned through an excessive nod and Erwin debated for a millisecond, if he should turn a blind eye.

 

He knew _exactly_ , what she was working on, considering that her little experiment had already ended up in his office two times in the last weeks and Erwin wasn’t as inapt or careless, as a certain vertically challenged employee from the fairy godmother department, when it came to reading case files.

 

Hange had probably banked on it, just as she had relied on Erwin to overlook it, but now, she actually needed something that required his seal and sign.

 

“Have I ever given you reason not to trust – “, Erwin stopped her with a raised index finger. Seemed like she was pretty desperate, if she tried to guilt trip _him_ of all people, into being her partner in crime.

 

“What am I signing?”

 

Her fidgeting didn’t go unnoticed, but he didn’t back down and when another minute of tense silence had passed between them, she finally relented with a drawn-out sigh and began counting things off her fingers. “Class 7 Mirage Spell, Class 5 Curse…”, she cast a sheepish look over the desk and Erwin frowned in return, before she murmured the next words as if she hoped he wouldn’t hear them. “… and, uh… Class 8 Inhibition Cantrip…?”

 

Would he have been a lesser man, Erwin would have gaped in shock. As it was, he managed to contain it mostly, by pressing his lips into a thin line. “Hange this is…”

 

“I know, I know. Reckless? I have a plan!”, she pointed at the huge picture frame behind his desk, displaying some sort of motivational poster. “Don’t forget our motto!”

 

And Erwin, fool that he was, fell for it, turned around briefly, and let his eyes roam over the words, hanging on the wall.

 

_All you need is faith, trust and a little pixie dust._

 

She certainly was asking for _a_ _ton_ of trust here.

 

“Even I won’t be able to break through this kind of inhibition spell.”, he brought his pen down to the paper and signed it with a flourish. “ _No_ _fairy_ will be able to undo, whatever you’re cursing him with, as long as the cantrip is in place.”

 

Hange nodded, almost solemnly and Erwin shoved the signed sheet over the desk. “I really hope you know what you’re doing.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * "All you need is faith, trust and a little pixie dust" is a quote from Peter Pan.
> 



	20. The Little Mermaid's Home

 

 

Wandering through snowy parks, going to the mall for some shopping, watching the sunset with a hot chocolate in hand from Mikasa’s tiny balcony while they talked about everything and nothing – The siblings had spent quite some quality time in the last weeks and in return, so had Levi and Eren.

 

The kid showed up in front of his door like clockwork, never missing a single day and Levi almost couldn’t remember what Eren’s apartment looked like from the inside, now that they spent so much time in his own.

 

The brat seemed to like it that way though. Was actually quite adamant about not inviting Levi into his home and the fairy couldn’t understand it for the life of him. His flat was bare, tiny and unwelcoming, while Eren’s was warm, cozy and colorful, but in the end, it probably didn’t matter if the brunette felt comfortable on Levi’s ugly couch. Aside from that, he had to admit that he didn’t mind spending more time within the run-down rooms anyways. They were brighter now, whenever Eren was here.

 

Today, they were outside though and surprisingly, not by the boy’s request.

 

Levi wasn’t numb nor stupid enough, to miss the increasing signs of melancholia in Eren’s expression. As often as they talked and chuckled about the most nonsensical topics, as often did the brunette just stare at him in contemplating silence and only an hour prior, it had reached a point where Levi wasn’t willing to watch Eren’s gloomy face any longer.

 

So here they were, listening to the sound of soft waves rolling along the shoreline, while eager seagulls circled above, and the salty wind ruffled their hair.

 

Eren loved the beach. Had, in fact, told him so on a lot of different occasions and Levi felt himself sigh in relief, as he witnessed undiluted happiness, rolling off of Eren, whenever his bare feet took another step through the shallow water.

 

“This is so awesome!”, he laughed loud and bubbly, turning back to the fairy who sported a tiny smile himself now.

 

Eren looked like a playful puppy, hopping excitedly along the shore.

 

“Glad you like it.”, he answered. _Seemed like you needed it_ , was what he added in his mind.

 

The brunette leaned forward and picked a shell from the water, raising it to eyelevel, to examine it closely, before he grinned again. “Wish I had brought my camera.”

 

“I can get it.”, but Eren already shook his head.

 

“It’s fine.”

 

“It’s not a big deal, I’ll be right back.”

 

This time, the kid turned, the shake of his head more insistent. “Really, it’s ok. Leave it.”

 

The fairy rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic. It won’t even take a minute.”

 

He knocked his heels together and frowned briefly, when he heard an alarmed shout from Eren’s direction, but before he could even begin to wonder about the panicked expression on the young man’s face, he was zapped away. Carried into Eren’s room with the aid of his shoes, only to look alarmed himself now from the sight that greeted him, eyes wide, hands suddenly sweaty and his heart slamming wildly in his chest within seconds.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * [The Little Mermaid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid) is a fairytale from the Danish author Hans Christian Anderson. Needless to say, she lived in the ocean, hence the title of this chapter ;)
> 



	21. There May Be Something There That Wasn't There Before

 

 

“Eren – “

 

“Y-You had no right! I said no!”

 

The young man rubbed angry tears away and Levi’s small hands curled into fists at his sides.

 

“What was that?”, he asked, instead of opting for an apology, but the brunette just clenched his jaw stubbornly, avoiding Levi’s eyes while he furiously stared down at the sand beneath his bare feet.

 

The fairy didn’t get an answer, probably didn’t need one anyways, because the sight of Eren’s room had spoken for itself.

 

It was like a stalker nightmare come true. Pages upon pages littering the floor with pictures of Levi’s clothes, his body, his face in all kinds of moods, scrawled down by Eren’s untrained hands. He was no artist and his attempts to capture images of the small man were mediocre at best, but Levi had recognized his black hair, thin brows and grey eyes in the childish doodles immediately.

 

There had been scenes from the times they had spent together. An unproportioned Ferris wheel showered in yellow spots, a red flower under a bell jar, a table with the words ‘ _Deck yourself!_ ’ scribbled next to it, as well as ball pens, red shoes, a box he barely managed to identify as a grandfather clock and myriads of pictures of a small person in a black coat with giant fairy wings.

 

And among it all: Sticky notes. Dozens, if not hundreds of them on every page, on the desk, on the walls. Names of old magical tales, quotes of the man himself, descriptions of his eyes, the name of the beer he used to keep in his fridge, his address, his _name_.

 

Everywhere he looked, nothing but Levi, Levi, _Levi_ and the fairy had had half a mind to just run from it and never look back right then and there. Couldn’t bring himself to do it though.

 

Not with Eren standing alone on a beach, miles and miles away from home with nothing but his thin jacket on his shoulders and his apartment keys in his pocket.

 

“Why – “, he stopped himself and sighed, when the brat kept denying him a look into his eyes. Being forceful wouldn’t get him anywhere and despite his discomfort, he just wanted to _understand_.

 

The fairy took a tentative step, then another and another, watching the brunette tense the closer he got, but he didn’t stop until he was near enough to reach out, place a hand on Eren’s shoulder and squeeze it in a friendly manner. “Please explain this to me.”

 

Eren swallowed. Loudly so and when he finally seemed to believe, that there was no malice in Levi’s voice, he dared to look up. Only for a second, before his gaze fell back to his feet.

 

“I told you…”, he whispered, as if it would explain anything, but Levi didn’t have a clue and let silence do the talking for him, to prompt Eren to continue.

 

“I don’t want to forget you.”, he murmured then and _Oh_ , Levi thought, and _I haven’t been prepared for this_.

 

Not for this answer, nor for the feeling blooming in his chest, that he tried to push down, only for it to claw its way up his throat more vigorously.

 

“I’m sorry, Levi…” Shit, the brat sounded so broken and raw, looked like it too and Levi didn’t even have it in him to feel creeped out anymore, while he watched the genuine distraught in Eren’s face, because the young man wasn’t weirdly obsessed with him. He was just… _scared_.

 

Scared to lose something – _someone_ – he cared for without ever being able to even recall it and the bittersweet beauty of it wasn’t lost on Levi.

 

Nobody had ever valued him this much.

 

“I will miss you.”, Levi said, instead of phrasing it as ‘ _I will miss you too._ ’, because Eren wouldn’t be able to think of him fondly in the future and he didn’t deny himself to feel the hurt, these thoughts brought him.

 

It didn’t go unnoticed by the brunette and before he had time to react, Eren had flung his arms around his torso and clutched onto him, with louds sobs wrecking his body and dampening Levi’s shoulders.

 

“Let’s go back, have a beer… I will tell you some stories…”

 

Eren nodded into the crook of his neck and Levi gave in, to what he knew was a bad idea, without being able to stop himself and pressed a soft peck into Eren’s hair.

 

“For what it’s worth…”, he looked down into wide doe eyes that had found his own, as soon as the brunette had felt the careful caress, “… Even when I won’t be with you anymore… I will always look out for you.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * "There May Be Something There That Wasn't There Before" is the song sung by the inhabitants of the castle, when Belle starts to fall in love with the beast in [Beauty and the Beast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_\(1991_film\))
> 



	22. The Last Sand Grain In The Hourglass

 

 

Levi rubbed his jaw for what felt like the millionth time this morning. It wasn’t just the stubble – persistent as fuck – but an overall feeling of discomfort, that had accompanied him throughout the streets from the moment they had left his apartment.

 

Eren had stayed over. Not by choice really, because the emotionally winded brat had simply fallen asleep at some point when all the embarrassment had left him, all the tears had been spilt and all the weirdness had been forgiven by Levi.

 

Who was he to judge anyways. Throughout his long lonely life, he had entertained far weirder coping mechanisms than the brunette. Jutting down notes and pictures out of fear that you’d lose a supernatural friend who you couldn’t even capture in a photograph, really didn’t rank high by Levi’s standards.

 

Now though, he felt off.

 

Not because Eren had tried his best to put his memories into some sort of unorganized ‘Levi Diary’, but because he simply _knew_ that something was in the air.

 

“– and some eggs and bacon!”

 

“Huh?”, he hadn’t even listened to the kid, while he continued to rub his skin off his fucking chin.

 

“Breakfast, duh?”

 

“Yeah, sure, whatever you want.”

 

The fairy forced his right hand back into the pocket of his coat and followed Eren who was currently making a beeline for a bakery at the end of the street, to satisfy his cravings.

 

Just what was wrong with him?

 

The weather maybe? Too little sleep? Too much beer last night?

 

He couldn’t put a fucking finger on it, but people who lived as long as he had, simply didn’t stumble over something unknown or surprising anymore and he hated the weird sense of premonition hovering over his head like the sword of Damocles.

 

As they turned towards the street to cross it, he caught a glint from the corner of his eye and turned around.

 

The reflection of sunlight, from a watch maybe, or glasses, but he couldn’t find its origin quick enough among the pedestrians and steered his attention back to the still babbling brunette two steps ahead of him.

 

Too late.

 

He saw the car, milliseconds before the impact. Saw Eren’s face still turned to him in a wide grin. There wasn’t even time for the brat to register the utter horror in Levi’s eyes, before he was thrown off his feet and flung over the hood. No time for the fairy to knock his boots or voice magic words or rip his wand from his pocket.

 

There was no _fucking_ time.

 

And Levi just stood there, frozen in place when Eren’s limp body hit the ground and didn’t move again.

 

 


	23. Sleeping Beauty

 

 

Levi traced the vein on Eren’s forearm with the tip of his finger for the hundredth time, feeling his steady pulse in sync with the beeping of the heart monitor.

 

Four days and no change in sight.

 

He hadn’t left the chair at his bed once.

 

Mikasa had come, then Armin, his family, a myriad of friends Levi had never even heard of. Even the pony had sat down for a long while, alone and lost in the white, clinical room and muttered words of love and encouragement to the unconscious body.

 

Levi had just sat there.

 

Had witnessed doctors and nurses tending to the boy, close ones breaking out in tears, before glimmers of hope ignited in their eyes and finally dimmed again with every passing hour.

 

He couldn’t explain it, but that was modern medicine for you – or so the caretakers said.

 

Sometimes, there simply was no answer.

 

Eren was… _fine_.

 

Despite the heavy collision with the car, he hadn’t suffered any injuries worth mentioning, aside from a few rough bruises and a sprained wrist.

 

There was no internal bleeding, no swelling of his brain, no ruptures or broken ribs, just… nothing.

 

Still, he didn’t wake up.

 

And Levi had lost his mind.

 

Had cried and then pulled himself together and gone home to empty his closets and cupboards. Had brought every damn magical item he possessed into the hospital room. Had chanted and sung and summoned until the last dryad herbs were burned, the last dragon bones were crushed in the mortar and the last celestial candles had burned down and then…

 

Then he had just sat there once more, sobbing again like a broken record, between bouts of trying to make sense of it all.

 

He hadn’t even seen the car. Or heard it. Hadn’t realized anything until the very second it was too late, and he had replayed the moment in his mind a million times.

 

Had asked himself a million _what if’s_ and had still come up with nothing but a deep, crushing guilt, telling him that if he hadn’t been there, if Eren hadn’t been able to see him or just hadn’t been in his company this particular morning, he would have looked out on the street.

 

Would have been careful, instead of turning his head to him and smile.

 

It didn’t change anything though and Eren’s eyes stayed closed, while the beeping continued. A steady rhythm in Levi’s ears, like the ticking of a clock marching towards the moment when he would lose his sanity.

 

It was how Hange had found him, ninety-something hours after Eren had been hurled through the air and he had never felt so grateful and so horribly unprepared at the same time.

 

“He’ll be fine.”, she had said and “I have a feeling about this one.” and when her eyes had darted to the door, the moment Mikasa walked in, she had sighed and murmured “Try to make the most of it.”, but Levi hadn’t been able to make _any_ sense of it at all.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * The princess in [Sleeping Beauty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty) has been cursed to sleep a hundred years.
> 



	24. Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

 

 

“ – still have a few options for treatment, but for now I’d strongly recommend to wait a little longer and watch him over the next 48 hours.”

 

“Why not go for these options right away?”

 

Levi watched Mikasa with a low sigh, while she hounded the doctor in charge with questions, that the poor man had answered about two dozen times in the last two days. In all honesty, he was impressed with the endless patience of the staff, considering that Eren’s inner circle was a bunch of menacing, overprotective mother hens.

 

“Because we can’t pinpoint what caused his comatose state. There is a wide range of possibilities and while the car accident hinted at a head trauma, we’ve followed up on a lot of alternatives.” The man lifted a page from his clipboard and threw a quick glance at the next sheet of paper. “Stroke, electric shock, epilepsy, liver or kidney failure, diabetes, meningitis, drugs… I could go on and on, but we didn’t find anything.”

 

“I understand. Thank you for your time, doctor.”

 

The fairy turned away from the entrance of the extensive care unit and walked back to the bed, to open a small window next to it. Lighting in the room was mostly superficial, but when he looked at the boy, he didn’t find him to appear pale or sickly, only eerily still.

 

“Time to shine, brat…”

 

As if arranged by cosmic fate, Eren wasn’t in need of any artificial respiration and he bent over the bed, to prod the kid’s chin until his mouth opened ever so slightly. Then, he didn’t have time for anything but licking his own thumb and running it over Eren’s bottom lip, to leave it soft and glistening, before Mikasa stepped into the room and Levi hoped for the love of everything that was holy, that this would work out.

 

Hange had said so. Or at least she had hinted at it, from what he had gathered when his brain had finally begun to function again, and she was way better with all that magic romance stuff than him.

 

It wasn’t like he wanted to let Eren go. He didn’t.

 

He really, really didn’t, but what choice did he have with the brat lying unconscious and unresponsive in the hospital since days? Deep inside, that much he knew now, he just wanted Eren to be happy. And if that wasn’t in the cards for him, he at least wanted him to be… _fine_. Awake and able to walk and talk and laugh with his stupid smile plastered all over his face.

 

It wasn’t the best plan.

 

It wasn’t even a good plan, but there was magic greater than life itself in an act of true love and devotion and people – even Levi – tended to forget that.

 

So he stepped away quickly, when Eren’s sister made her way around the bed and looked at her brother, whose soft, silky hair was swaying gently in the breeze of the recently opened window.

 

She talked and talked, and he waited and waited and when the moment came for her to say goodbye, he held his breath.

 

Watched her staring at the still face and Eren’s plump mouth for a long moment, before her own lips parted and she leaned in.

 

And while Levi wanted so desperately to look away, he couldn’t.

 

Only to witness how her tender kiss met his forehead, before she stood up, gathered her bag and her coat and left.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * The princess in [Sleeping Beauty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty) had been woken by a kiss.
> 



	25. A Well Of Feelings

 

 

After two weeks of silently watching over Eren’s unconscious body, Levi’s constant state of panic had made space for something hollow and empty in his chest.

 

The doctors had no answers and while the fairy had been suspicious at first, he was convinced by now, that there couldn’t be any sort of supernatural cause either. Levi had contemplated quite a few times if Eren had accidently stolen some cursed or enchanted trinkets from his apartment with the good intention to cherish them as a keepsake of their friendship but after hours and days of trying all kinds of hocus-pocus to wake the boy up, he had learned to accept that magic wasn’t the answer here.

 

Probably.

 

Hange had come back several times. Weirdly stoic in her demeanor, in contrary to her usual craziness and the fairy had wondered if for some reason, she knew.

 

Knew what Eren meant to him, what the boy had become to him.

 

Aside from that, she had mostly seemed exasperated. Not that Levi understood why.

 

Probably because she couldn’t fathom that he had almost managed get the _one_ case killed, that she had assigned him. Then again, that wasn’t really like Hange at all.

 

“Maybe you need to think differently”, she had said only an hour earlier, while her gaze was lingering on the bed. “Explore all your options.”

 

“I did everything I could think of, Hange!”, was what he had snapped back, while his supervisor shrugged, already in the process of lifting herself off the chair.

 

“You sure about that?”, were her last words and before another retort had formed on his lips, she had vanished with a knock of her heels.

 

 

Now, her useless advice lingered and occupied his every thought needlessly.

 

 

Levi huffed in annoyance and smoothed his pale fingers over the back of Eren’s hand. His skin was soft, just as it had been when the brat had held onto him in front of the Ferris wheel and not for the first time, did he wish for the warm digits to curl around his own again.

 

In the deep, deep solitude of his mind, the fairy could easily admit that he’d always reach out, for as long as Eren would let him. He’d entwine their fingers and follow him through the whirlwind that was life, even if it meant to watch him age and die.

 

It would also mean to hear him laugh and see him smile.

 

This, here, was wrong. Eren was too young and too beautiful to waste away. So beautify in fact, that he had even managed to cast a light into the life of a lonely fairy, hundreds of years old and doomed to rot in the solitary shadow of other people’s happiness.

 

It was Levi’s punishment. His curse.

 

Until Eren.

 

 

The small man frowned at the thought, squeezing the boy’s fingers, while his free hand reached to his own chest, trying to rub the ache inside away.

 

It hurt, terribly so, but beneath the pain was a bubbling well of feelings, building the foundation for his sadness.

 

Good things, beautiful and amazing things, that were now lost to him, with Eren lying unconsciously in his bed and Levi blinked terribly confused, when he finally understood.

 

“ _Oh…_ ”, he swallowed, staring at the boyish, sleeping face.

 

“ _Oh God…_ ”, he whispered and a whole new set of emotions gushed from the spring of feelings inside him.

 

Anxiety, embarrassment and all-consuming excitement.

 

 


	26. By George, He's Got It!

 

 

“I think he’s got it.”

 

Erwin’s well put together façade crumbled instantly, and he dropped his forehead on the desk, groaning with exhausted relief. “Thank God!”

 

Hange pouted. The blonde had been a little… _fidgety_ in the last days, when Eren’s situation hadn’t shown improvement. Good thing, that she liked meddling – In this case, by visiting a certain broody fairy, watching over a hospital bed.

 

“No trust in this damn institution!” She threw her hands in the air, but Erwin didn’t dignify it with a comment and just glared up at her from his resting spot on the tabletop.

 

“You have the file?”, he asked instead, and it was her turn to groan.

 

“You’re such a slave driver.”

 

“You got it or not?” Erwin sounded a little snappy now, but the effect was kind of lost on her, because his face was still squished against the desk and his words slightly muffled.

 

Okay, maybe not the best moment to stall. After all, he had really stuck his neck out for her when he went along with her request and she could understand his desperate wish to get things in order, before anyone else caught wind of what she had been doing.

 

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your panties in a twist, big boss.”, she snapped her fingers and a red folder landed in front of Erwin’s nose, almost hitting him right in the face.

 

He grumbled a little but didn’t complain and sat up to open the ‘Jäger – Ackerman’ case.

 

“So where’s the spindle?” Erwin’s eyes were flying over the paperwork, but he didn’t miss her casual shrug.

 

“Didn’t have one.”

 

“What?”

 

“Why on earth would Eren poke his finger on a fucking spindle, Erwin?!”

 

His mouth snapped open for another reprimand, but before the words could make it through his lips, she dropped an empty syringe unceremoniously onto the desk.

 

“The ambulance?”, he questioned, half irritated, half amazed.

 

“The ambulance.”, she confirmed with a wide grin, looking way too pleased with herself. “They drugged him right up, before he even came to. Just had to…”, she made a circling motion with her index finger and a few sparks flew from its tip.

 

“Clever…”

 

Holding the item in question carefully, he dropped it into a box in one of his drawers, to have it disposed in the near future. It was never a good idea, to keep cursed items in close proximity, especially cursed _needles_.

 

When his eyes wandered back to the open file, he saw Hange removing a picture of three young adults from the folder, that didn’t belong there anymore.

 

“You’re sure he’s got it?”

 

Another shrug, while she grinned down at the remaining photographs in front of him – one of them nothing but a snapshot of an old oil painting, depicting a dark-haired man with grey eyes and a gloomy expression.

 

She stretched her arm out and ran her finger over the printed name on the paper next to the image, looking proud like a mother who had seen her son riding his bike for the first time.

 

Erwin’s eyes followed and Hange smiled fondly.

 

_Levi Ackerman_

 

“He’s got it.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * The princess in [Sleeping Beauty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty) fell asleep after pricking her finger on a cursed spindle. Seems like Hange didn't find this to be modern enough.
>   * The title of this chapter isn't from a fairytale, but actually inspired by the song [The Rain in Spain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rain_in_Spain) from the musical 'My Fair Lady'
> 



	27. True Love's Kiss

 

 

“Okay.”, Levi ran a hand through his hair – greasy by now, because he had done so numerous times in the last hours – and swallowed around the heavy lump in his throat.

 

“Okay.”, he repeated, leaning forward and pressing his eyes closed. “Here goes nothing.”

 

Nothing being the keyword, because he just hovered on top of Eren for a solid 30 seconds, without even looking at him, before he backpedaled and drew a hasty breath.

 

Yeah, oxygen. True, that was a thing – even for fairies.

 

“Shit, I can’t do this!”, he rubbed his face viciously and slumped back into the chair, only to get up once more immediately and pace through the room in the next moment.

 

“You understand, right?”, he babbled, as if Eren would just open his eyes and start answering him. “I respect your boundaries. I don’t want you to get this wrong, I’m just out of ideas. It doesn’t have to mean something!” Okay, he had started gesturing now. He was officially losing it.

 

“Wait, that was wrong. I didn’t mean that. Of course, it means something, or I wouldn’t even consider it. I’m just saying, it’s me. No pressure. I’m not doing this to... to harm you or because I _expect_ something. Oh god, this is totally creepy, right? I mean you can’t even _move_ and I’m thinking about taking advantage of you.”

 

He spun around with wide, panicked eyes. “Not that I _want_ to take advantage of you! I mean– Shit, no. I mean I want this, but not like this. I’m not doing this, because I think you’re an easy target right now.”

 

Levi had miraculously made his way back to the bed, fingers buried in his own strands to tug harshly on them.

 

“You… You understand, right?”, he whispered, sounding just as desperate as he felt, before his hands fell to his sides and he slumped to his knees next to the brunette.

 

“I swear, Eren… This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

 

Looking away for a moment, Levi pressed his eyes shut in hopes he could fool himself a tiny bit longer. He did feel guilty, but at the same time, it was just another excuse to drag things out, because if he went through with this and… and it didn’t _work_?

 

“I’m going to lose my god damn mind, brat.”, he murmured as if answering the unspoken question and before he could come up with another dumb reason for holding back, he grabbed Eren’s long, tan fingers and drew a deep, calming breath.

 

“Eren, I… I– I think…” God, he was so close. Levi could smell his skin, a light mix of sweat and disinfectants and a million other things that accumulated when you didn’t leave the bed for two damn weeks, but he didn’t even _care_.

 

“I think…”, more swallowing. His heart was slamming so madly in his chest that he was sure it was about to burst any second now. “I think, I love you…”

 

He could feel Eren’s slow breath on his lips, and magic crackling in the air around them and any doubts he had had moments ago, vanished with the first, tender contact of skin on skin.

 

The boy came back the same way, he had left Levi. There was no suspense, no time for anything. Not to taste him or to marvel at the softness of his mouth or to commit it all to memory.

 

The fairy kissed him and with a low sigh, Eren opened his eyes.

 

 


	28. Happily Ever After

 

 

_What is love?_

 

_A few months ago, I would have said, it’s hormones and unrealistic expectations, wrapped up with a nice bow made of social standards and questionable morale._

 

_I would have said that humans are too selfish to truly understand love and to cherish what’s really important._

 

_There is this saying, that when you really love someone, you let them go, but love isn’t like that at all._

 

_It’s holding on, even if it’s hard and it is mending things that are broken, instead of throwing them away._

 

_It’s a fickle thing. Fragile but strong at the same time and probably the most magical power in the world._

 

_Love can end wars and heal hidden wounds. It can shield us against the greatest pain and be the brightest light in the darkness._

 

_Have I really rescued Eren from his curse? Or was it rather him, who saved me, by giving me his heart, long before I even knew that I needed it?_

 

 

Levi’s hand paused when the door of his apartment opened, before Hange meandered into the living room.

 

“Hey munchkin! Still working on that report?”

 

The fairy looked down at his notes and blushed, before he realized what he had written and shook his head quickly. No way in hell, he could ever hand this rose-colored word vomit in for filing.

 

Without giving the pages in front of him any more attention, she plopped down next to him on the couch and stretched her gangly legs out. “You know, that you don’t have to do this anymore, yeah? Smoochy smoochy, curse gone and all that jazz.”

 

His eyes shot quickly to the empty bell jar on the opposite side of the room and he nodded. “I know.” And before this could turn into some endless, humiliating discussion about his true devotion to his job, he jumped right ahead to “I want to.”, in hopes it would shut her up.

 

“Where’s Eren?”, she grinned, not missing a beat, but thankfully dropping the other topic and Levi answered with a shrug.

 

“Home probably? I’m not his mom.”

 

Feigning nonchalance didn’t work with Hange though. She just started laughing like a hyena and shoved his shoulder hard enough to make him topple forward. “You can try spewing that bullshit all you want, but you won’t fool me, muffin.”

 

“Fine.”, he grunted and began spilling the beans with his voice turning lower and lower with every single word. “He’s home. Studying. I’m going in an hour. We’ll have dinner. Watch a movie. I’ll…”, he cleared his throat for good measure, “… stay the night.”

 

“Uuuuuuh!” Hange made a few funny faces, cooed and wiggled her eyebrows, while he considered making an early escape and vanish from his couch with the power of magical fairy shoes.

 

But he was grateful in a sense. Somehow. A little maybe.

 

Didn’t mean, he hadn’t been royally pissed when he had realized that Hange had staged an accident with a mirage spell and turned Eren into a sleeping beauty – without a way to undo it and supported by Erwin’s blessing of all things.

 

But she had sworn she would have brought him up to speed eventually, instead of letting the brat nap for a hundred years and his little temper tantrum, rivaling Rumpelstiltskin himself, had scared her enough not to dare strip him of his powers. God, he couldn’t imagine himself _walking_ from A to B anymore.

 

Maybe one day, when he was too old. Cause that was a thing now.

 

Levi had lifted Eren’s curse with true-loves-kiss and after a dazed moment, the brat had stared at him in awe and flung himself into the man’s arms, to reciprocate. Soft and eager and utterly beautiful.

 

Two weeks’ worth of morning breath and tube feeding hadn’t even put a dent on the amazing sensation of Eren’s lips on his own and the only thing that had managed to separate them, had been the sudden jolt in Levi’s chest, before his curse left his lips in a cloud of glittering sparks.

 

And in that moment, he had known.

 

 

“He loves you.”, stated Hange, as if she was currently narrating his thoughts and the fairy scratched the back of his neck shyly, rubbing his fingers against the short ends of his undercut.

 

“He does.”

 

“And you…?”

 

Levi rolled his eyes but humored her regardless. “I love him too.”

 

“And what do we learn from this?”, she grinned now – a little unsettling – as she waited for his response, but the small fairy had taken the exit from Hange’s train of thought and only stared back in confusion.

 

“Huh?”

 

His boss huffed, but her spirit was obviously not broken, and she picked up his slack right away, by answering in a singsong voice and casting him expectant looks. “That all you need is faith, trust and…?”

 

Levi glared at the brunette fairy and jumped to his feet. “No.”

 

“Awww, come on, munchkin!”

 

“No!”

 

And before she could force any more of this nonsense on him, he smashed his heels together, thinking of the only person whose company didn’t make him run within five minutes and disappeared into thin air.

 

_Time to see Eren._

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here ends our little journey! I'm almost a little sad, but giving Eren and Levi their happy end has been nice too ♥ Thank you for sticking with me through this little tale. It hasn't been incredibly dramatic or juicy, but I hope this read made you smile a bit - I certainly enjoyed writing it and reading your lovely comments. Sometimes love comes unexpectedly and in all shapes and sizes. Don't let it slip by - learn from Levi and hold on to it ♥


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